“Because what happens, is you have all the moisture that is now on the surface and it’s going to stay there for a while with the cooler temperatures. Had that been rain, it would have all ran down to the rivers and we would have seen some pretty high crests right now,” said Chris Shaffer, Chief Meteorologist for WCCO. “It was kind of a good thing, believe it or not.”

Now the rivers can clear out some of the water that’s built up, before another major melt happens and more water gets into them.

The National Weather Service is still worried about St. Paul and places down-river from where the Minnesota and Mississippi meet, including Red Wing and Hastings.

Another storm could change everything. The last thing Minnesota needs is more rain and snow.

“We feel once it warms up in another week — week-and-a-half — we’ll see that river rise again. That’s kind of what we’re watching for now,” said Nardinger.

Nardinger knows the crest is inevitable, but Mother Nature has just delayed it.